Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-05-29
JENNY BROOKE.



letter:
"My Dear Ned. Why don't you run
down and see us for few days ? Are
the sparrows on the roofs Of Danes Inn
more to You than the thrush and gold
fnch-more than your old friend and
his wife ? Push away your musty
books and papers, lay down your ugly,
soaked pipe, put shirt or two and
brush and comb into your bag, hail
the swift hanson, and catch the
next train from Victoria. You
say: why this sudden haste ? You
have not written TO me for months, and
when now at length You do, You write
this comic invitation, Why las \. W.
hath it)-why is this thus? Because,
my hoy, am in love. and my wife Is
in love but ] not with her, and she
not with me. tOmmCm ? We are both
in love on Your behalf with the fairest,
the saucicst maidep the modern world
has seen. She is IN tins house; she
has been here q week, and she Will
lie here for some few weeks
longer. She came through an
advertisement singular mode OF
0ulIhlaNN. WISH ~ AtA ttilhN
| told Won that we had advertised
in the hjcld that gentleman farmer
was ready 10 receive into his house one
or two ladies or gentlemen i'll. want ot
fresh air and farm produce. Poor
Millv Ii was her idea. We never
thought-Gid we when came to this
COMPOUNDED place eight years ago that
we should have to receive dodgers for
living! But what can poor farmer
do in these days? My dear Milly
she has been the bravest little
woman. Well. well. In answer
to our advertisement came this
young lady l have mcntioned-,Icnny
Brooke do you like the name?
There is a rhyme lost somewhere, I'm
sure. She Is the orphan of lawyeran
the ward of a lawyer oddly enough, a
rather youngish man. who would like,
naturally, 10 marry her, think. She
is charming-all the more charming to |
nv mind because her education has |
been a trihe neglected and. besides, |
she has IA word in your ear 4 tritie of |
a thousand or so a year. If | don't |
stop shall run completely into Silas
Wegg's vein. Come at once. | will /
meet you at the station. Yours ever.
"P. S.-Jenny has brought the
spring with her. She drinks milk. and |
trips about all over the fields and down
through the warren. and the primrOses
peep out everywhere to look at her.
Come. The pig you so much admired
last October is bacon and being eaten
need scarcely say that this letter
utterly ruined my mornings work.
tried to shove il aside as being merely
agreeable evidence-if | had wanted
any-of my friends unconqueNble
good spirits and warm, sunny fancy;
but, all the same, my thoughts would
keep slipping away IN speculation Of
Miss Jenny Brooke. Did she care
for this " rather younSish guar
dian in a lover-like way? Would
she ultimately marry him Why,
Of course she would. Nature ami the
drama had decreed it as the proper end
But would it not be more dramatic il
some one should come between the
rather youngish 80 guardian and the
girl ?-some poor devil who might APP
peal more 10 the girls fancy than a
prosy guardian could? But she was an
heiress, and heirosses are always way
ward and troublesome to WOO or to
win. and | had my work to at
tend to and hal no time for such
vagaries Yet there was this much to
recommend this hciresS besides her own
charm. that she had no relations t. be
wooed and Won. I he end of it was |
threw aside my work, wrote telegram
To- LuXton to meet me by the afternoon
train few of my friedls will believe
could be so impulsiyJ), and walked up
to my club to lunch.
LuXtOn's farm was only between
thirty and forty miles from town. and
by > O'Clock l was shaking his hand
and stepping into his dog-cart.
You have been prompt" said he.
CHANGING into my face rs We drove of
" lou liked the invitation -eh -
YES, sad J. looking at the horses
ears. and somehow shrinAiug from en-
tire fIpulness. II have been sticking
rather close to work and SEEING no.
body was getting fuS;y and ont OF
sorts and the pictures you drew %
country delights So ttmpted me, sill .
!. 1t length giving him glance, "thlt
I decided to come for few days; and
having made the decision, it would
only have been waste OF time to put
of the carrying OF it out-wouidn't
it,"
Certainly. You'll stay a fortnight
at least.
a fortnight? must be back in
town OH Tuesday
TUESDAY? You cant accomplish
anything by Tuesday. Certainly you
can take her to church on Sunday
"Mv dear fellow I said, its aw-
fully Kind of You to provide for me in
the way vow suggested. but ] don't
know that | want 10 marry anybody,
least Of all an heiresS. May / not en-
Joy till tuesday the good things OF the
country, your and your wife's socle-
ty-and the girl Is too. ii she likes
without COM ron'sc ? ~
"On. sur, IL. my boy. surely.
Ec w,s not offended: W. were very
Cd iIl.uo~, AND, as | reelected after
ward. Dc must have considered my oil
haiti 81 ,hriniui9 rcserve-how the
shyn IS 81 my LatWc had always been
asha: cl Of il, werh impu'sivcnoss. So
The /, If 81 the w,v We were silent con-
cen ~ Miss jenny Brooke. though /
w9s really i hing TO tiil; aoout her.
Tovcy,r III half an hour stood in
her presence It was not too hight in
the iow.roo!td fam parlor; fire
lurn,d brightly. the cloth WAS laid aud
speed With all the preparations for the
usual profdse farmhouse tea, when l
entered apd saluted my friends vile,
and thon, turning, met the direct, half
sauCy, Lalf-cOnocious look of tall
young lady who rose in the corner by
The FIRE. Her complexion was OF the
cleaiest- almost consumptiycly clear
(she emitted painful little cough as
she rescued her seat her eye and
nose of the sauciest fair she was,
aud her figure was of that compact.
maidenly sort that best shows its
curves Of beauty when reaching up to
the clothes-line. During and after tea
had opportunity to judge that she
had a tender little heart, somewhat
.,s,I,o.o,,c ,,ott,pr. tb.f /